The Old Man and His Grandson

The ebullient crowd was large but all were outside the prodigious stadium.  Among the several thousand onlookers were a wizen and bucolic looking old man (papa) and his sixteen-year old grandson. The old man looked like a papa with a gray beard, tawdry overalls, and with  the exception of his overly grown   snow white   hair, perhaps a carry-over from the 60’s,  he indeed looked the part.

He had long since retired and had adopted an antiquated life style. He felt old, defeated, and had basically given up. 

He was a tinker by trade and had never had success at any of his unskilled efforts. His wife however of forty-two years had almost completed her Ph.D. before having to discontinue her educational pursuits in order to help support the family by teaching at the local community college. His educational experience ended just prior to finishing the eleventh grade.  However for years he had tried to educate himself by becoming a student of theology, political science, and history; he had dreams of becoming an author but ended up filling the trash can with his unread writings. His walk with the Lord had been exceptional, and for over forty years he was known                         as a man of strong faith and impeccable character.

However, when his wife died two years ago, after a very painful battle with pancreatic cancer, it dismantled him.

Now, barely a shell of a man he had become isolated and distraught. Depression had become his constant companion.

His great loss helped to engender great hurt and even greater bitterness. His walk with the Lord had been reduced to less than a crawl!

He felt like an outcast, like a pariah. At his age he knew he should be some kind of didactic leader in the Christian community; instead, in his opinion, he was an unseen, antiquated byproduct of years gone by! 

While his walk two years ago was indeed strong, and he thought his   faith was unwavering,   when his faith was really tested it failed.

He    wiped his deep seated wrinkled forehead with a blue bandana and looked at his attentive grandson who was wise well beyond his years. He had been a precocious child and now at sixteen he was not only well versed in the Holy Scriptures but life in general.  He was not ashamed or afraid to live and speak out his Christian faith. Although he was not the most popular teen in school, academically he was at the top of his class. The seventy-year old glanced down at the ground dampened by  an overnight rain and  laughed a low sarcastic laugh, then looked up and glared at what was happening but didn’t want to think about what was about to happen.

For some reason one of the many Bible verses he had memorized kept pounding in his mind - not pounding in positive terms, but more like a migraine headache. 

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

It was the last part of the verse that seemed to mock him worse than the rest, but the entire verse had more of a taunting nature than an uplifting one.

“I know I deserve His anger, and I certainly know a lot about weeping. I am not in   His favor; I know nothing, absolutely nothing about joy – that will never come,” he said in a most dejected and dismal voice.

His eyes continued to glare penetratingly at the spectacle before him.

“I really don’t want to be here; I watched many a game in that stadium with the giant   hole in its roof.  They call it the house that Landry built,” the old man said in a lugubrious and pensive voice. The seventy-year old stared with hurt and wrathful eyes at the mammoth structure that would soon be in rubble. 

He did not want to watch what he called a cruel and wasteful destruction of a structure he cared so much about. He continued to gawk and muttered sarcastically to himself that such a cruel and odious deed should never happen! While he was indeed very angry at what was about to happen, he was also livid at himself because of who he had become. Since he was there at his grandson’s request he wanted to make it time well spent. However, what he really wanted to do was to speak and unload his crowded and confused mind upon his sixteen-year old grandson. 

The old man had spent years listening to his grandson, but today he was troubled! He had baggage he had been carrying for the past two years and it needed to be unloaded, and the young lad with sagacious ears beside him became the perfect spiritual dock.

He really needed to talk about his deep and great hurt over the loss of his wife, but the pain was too great and so on that  subject he remained silent.  Yet, he just needed to talk; so he began to resurrect memories from his early childhood and spoke them out.  “I am    amazed how I can recall the past, I mean my early childhood.  I can remember people, places, and events from as young three. Yet, now at the age of seventy, I can’t seem to remember the basic things I am supposed to do from day to day without the aid of a notepad,” he said in a half joking manner.    “Look! It won’t be long before Texas Stadium comes crashing down. They’re going to implode it you know.”

He regained his thoughts, and slowly positioned himself on the ground, not seeming to mind its dampness. He seemed a little troubled and glanced toward the half-lit early sky.   His countenance began to change from a twisted, depressed look to one more troubled, much more troubled. He felt like he was in some kind of daze.

Then it happened! To the old one’s sorrow on Sunday morning, the 11^th day of April, 2010 at 7:07 AM, the mammoth stadium came crashing to the ground.

“Look they actually did it, it’s gone, it’s finished, just like me, gone and finished,” he said in a voice filled with as much sadness as in anger.

The young man prayed a silent prayer for his papa as he watched with sympathetic eyes and listened with caring ears.  

Suddenly the old man’s attention was diverted from his current ramblings and from the rubble of the former stadium, as he began to look upward as if searching for something.    Then he looked down and shook his head back and forth like an old oscillating fan. 

His eyes cast again toward heaven; he seemed as though he was not standing on the damp grass by the parking lot, yet he was.   In a flash, like a vision, he was able to see in his spirit; it was brilliant, yet blurred; it was vivid, yet obscure – not at all like a dream yet,  but very similar. It was more than surreal, but he himself was fully awake. He knew he was journeying into the “heavenlies”, a place he did not want to go.

Why here? Why him? He knew he saw and heard, but it was not actually visible or audible, yet it was. He was  certain that something divine was taking place and he seemed to have little choice but to experience it.

In his spirit or in his mind, he was not sure, but he saw total chaos.  At first it was turbid but the longer he gazed the clearer it became.  He found himself seemingly flying above anything with which he was familiar, upward, upward, into the empyrean, to behold the things of God.   In panoptic view he saw many things seemingly all at once. He witnessed computers crashing all over the country – millions of them. The power grid was completely shut down. He saw this country going back to the mid-1800’s as a result of an EMP attack. Strong men stood with mouths agape, others wept, others turned to violence, while still others clothed themselves with fear!

At this point the old man was totally unaware of his surroundings and continued to look up but periodically cast his head downward as though trying to process what he was hearing and seeing.

In a voice that he had never used before, he began to prophesy. 

”We are going to experience   horrific weather changes, much more intense than anytime in recorded history. Tsunamis and volcanoes will be commonplace.  We will see devastating earthquakes and many will be in places that have never experienced earthquakes.”

In words that were almost inaudible, but intense, he said: “The sun will be blasting and blazing, scorching people all over planet earth; the seas will indeed be raging! It will be like nothing we have ever seen! Death and disease will flood this country like a never ending tidal wave.

Many will cry out, but more with curses than in repentance.”

He continued to look, see, and speak. “Our money will be gone; the average citizen will become a slave to the state.

We are going to have a severe food shortage. This will be due in part to a mass honey bee and ocean fish reduction. There will be other factors, some very sinister.

He saw buildings that resembled the ruins of Texas Stadium and people rioting in the streets. It was mayhem in hell!

In addition he saw the evil “powersters” in Washington DC and other key places applauding themselves on how they were instrumental in destroying the United States via Supreme Court rulings, immoral laws, and an evil press that would wither under the light of truth.  

“Oh no,” he said in the most disheartened voice yet, “Not our military!”

He realized that our military would no longer be ours, but would become an evil   agency which will merge with the United Nations to carry out their noisome scams of the draconian government.

He thought to himself the main reason the United States is in the shape she is in is not so much the evil coming against her but the evil within.

Then he wept uncontrollably; large tears washed his gray bearded face as he spoke out his vision.  “The Church at large will mutate into a worse condition than it is in now. It will continue to anoint   perversion and ordain its offspring. The concern will not be to strive for righteousness, but rather to turn in those who are righteous. This government led church will be the complete antithesis of the real Church.” His grandson was transfixed on his papa and in awe as to what he was saying.

Then he heard his papa speak again. “God help us, the occult and devil worship will be rampant - they will be in our schools, in the work place, and even in some of our churches.”

Then the old man threw his head in his hands and said: “I was afraid of this - the Church, the real Church, will be under extreme pressure as though a giant vice was trying to squeeze the very life out of her, yet to no avail. Persecution will be almost ubiquitous! True believers will be imprisoned and labeled as home-grown terrorists.

An individual will come on the scene; he will emerge out of a well known and respected place. This charismatic leader will have a face of an angel but a heart of a   beast. This vigilante from hell will be hell-bent on tearing down anything sacred or holy. He will be indeed a wolf in sheep’s clothing and will insert his strong will into a weak and gullible people, who will follow him into the pits of hell. 

The old man knew for certain that the real Church would prevail, but this vision of persecution saddened him too greatly to continue and he screamed out, “This is too horrific – stop!! I do not want to see anymore!!” And he did not.

The old man was greatly troubled by what he had seen! He brushed his long white hair from his eyes so he could wipe his wrinkled   face, now soaked with tears.

The seventy-year old sat with face in hands and for the next ten minutes described in a despairing and poignant voice the following: “Radical Islam will become a dominant religion in the United States; this will be due in part to the fact that the president, who is actually Muslim, will finally admit it.

Islamic cell groups all over this country will emerge out of the Trojan Horse (Mosques) and institute what they call Islamic justice in every state in the union.” He squeezed his eyes shut so he could see more clearly and grasped his hands tightly together and said: “We will have an actual civil war, and it will be violent – so very violent!”

This will be in part due to the assassination of our current president. However, there was already great upheaval and unrest.

With eyes still shut he saw brainwashed teachers filling their open minded students with the grossest of perverted ideologies so they too could be brainwashed.

The homosexual agenda will move like a wicked wildfire which will further ignite the Islamic world. More laws will be enacted that will totally eliminate certain groups of people such as the elderly, disabled, and the unborn.  

“Oh God let it not be! The United States will not only turn its support from the nation of Israel but turn against her. In fact country after country will turn brutally against God’s chosen nation.”  The vision was so vivid he could almost taste and smell it.  This was the coup-de-grace   for the United States before she was no more.

The white haired old man looked with blazing eyes but without seeing his surroundings. He struggled to his feet and stood up, staunch and erect. He appeared like a prophet of old as he raised his hands above his head and declared in a strong commanding and strident voice: “We are pitching our tents on an epicenter, we are swimming in front of a tsunami, and we are playing in a den of vipers!  There is no repentance, there is none!” 

He shook his head back and forth in a slow downward direction and his long gray hair fell in front of his tear stained eyes like old winter leaves that should have already fallen.

Then he fell forward onto his face, lay there for a few minutes, turned over onto his back and looking heavenward, uttered a lamented plea:  “When will these things be? When will they occur?”

Abruptly the vision ceased. Holy sounds were drowned out by the chattering of the crowd.

He was confused and bewildered by what he had witnessed.

Why did God show him these things and leave him like an old gray cobweb hanging from some old rafter in some old barn?  “I know, but cannot do.”

The Texas sun was just appearing on the eastern skyline but he still felt as helpless, alone, and defeated as when he and his grandson had first entered the parking lot while it was still dark.   The seventy-year old now fully aware of his surroundings cast his eyes into the attentive and sympathetic   eyes of his grandson.

He could sense the young lad had more than just listening on his mind – he wanted to speak it!

The old man sensed strongly he was to listen

“Papa, papa you have taught me the things of God from my birth. You have not only taught me about God and His Word but you have taught me the deeper things, the esoteric and mysteries of our Awesome Creator,” his grandson said in a voice that was both stern yet respectful.

His papa would soon find out that his grandson’s didactic style of exhortation    was laced with more wisdom and love than anything he had ever experienced. He did not expect to take umbrage but take heed.

“I owe most, if not all, my Christian truths to you papa, but something has happened to you and I think I know what it is. When Grams died your walk with the Lord also died! You incorrectly stated   that God ripped her unmercifully from your life and that incorrect belief started disbelief and a slow but sure downward slide into the mire you have found yourself wading through for way too long! I loved Grams too, but she would never have wanted you do live out your grief this way!

I do not know why she died in suffering, as she did, but we are told to trust, not necessarily understand. You have told me many times that there are things in life that we can never fathom, but we are to continue to walk through those things with God and by faith!”

The sixteen-year old looked at his papa with a kind but penetrating stare and said:  “Grams’ dying was indeed an extremely sad event that satan used as a strategic catalyst to try to destroy you and it almost has!  You have let your guard down papa. Since grams’ death you have let grief and bitterness consume you, crowding out the things of the Lord.  The old man realized he was in the presence of a wise and prudent instructor. He took his rightful place of obeisance and sat down below his grandson’s feet and listened intently.

The young boy looked at his papa and loved him.

 “I believe you indeed saw a vision and heard from God. While you were certainly undeserving, God still allowed you to see and hear what you did.  As you know, God even chose a donkey to address a king.”

His grandson seemed not so much to be searching for the right words, but how to say them.  “Do you remember the two words that are a couple of the most important words in Bible?” The old man nodded in the affirmative.

“But papa are you doing them?” He went on not allowing his papa to answer for he knew what the answer was. “As you know the words are trust and obey. You can’t do one without the other. The words trust and believe are interchangeable.  Do you trust every day papa? Are you obeying papa? Do you believe, papa? Many have said seeing is believing, but I say unto you that believing is seeing! Do you believe anymore papa, I mean really believe?

Papa you have also taught me not to overlook the obvious. You said this is a central truth to living the Christian life!  Have you overlooked the obvious papa? Don’t overlook the obvious papa, but obviously you have. What are some of the obvious things that you have overlooked that are absolutely necessary to have a victorious Christian life? You know papa they are prayer and the word!”

The grandson did not pause, but kept his eyes fastened on his papa and his papa kept his eyes fastened on his grandson. ‘The first thirty minutes you spend with the Lord will determine the rest of the day. How can you or anyone be in relationship without vital time spent with the one you want that relationship with?”     

The young lad gently stroked his papa’s long white hair back from his tear stained face and said in a voice of an angel: “Oh papa, papa: Get rid of the offal! I said offal papa, you know its meaning - it means waste.  It’s the byproduct of a slaughtered animal. It’s garbage papa. We are commanded to carry our cross not carry garbage. Get rid of the offal papa! Trade in your garbage, your bitterness, and all your sorrow for the gift of peace.  We are to have both peace with God and the peace of God. We are also to have the joy of the Lord!  I said joy papa. 

Go back to your Bethel! Oh papa! Return, return back to your Bethel! When people start anew God is always there to meet them, hold them, and pour out His love upon them!”

Remarkably, in that moment, the old bearded man became more keenly aware of God’s love and forgiveness than he had since his wife died, and he laid there on the ground and waited for the revival to continue in his innermost being. In a buoyant but almost commanding voice his grandson said: “Let’s pray papa – be free from yourself and let God back on the throne!”

The two pressed their faces against the damp ground. The old man wept   tears of joy, and they were just that, tears of joy!! He asked for forgiveness, and received not only that, but a new and stronger zeal for the Lord he had not experienced for two years.  He also experienced a new and indescribable peace both from the Lord and in the Lord!!

The sun was now up and fully visible in the eastern skies over Arlington, Texas, and the old one thought: Joy really does come in the morning!!

As they entered the old one’s pickup, the grandson heard his papa say something. It was low and almost unintelligible. “What did you say papa?”  The old man shook his head and in a reverent chuckle said, “I am going to start writing a newsletter, yeah that’s what I’m going to do, start writing a newsletter!”

The old man returned to his home and before retiring for bed he thought of his sixteen year old grandson who spoke volumes of wisdom and whom he loved so much!

That night an old man slept in peaceful sleep with his thoughts on God, keenly aware of all that awaited this country and the world, yet he slept in a strange and holy peace.

The next day the headlines would describe the implosion of the giant stadium, but the old man knew that there was only one giant in the area; it was his  grandson who stood in the sandals of the prophet Nathan and with loving exhortation helped lead him into true repentance and genuine revival.   

Copyright by Jack Hunter May, 2010

Editors Post Script

When I wrote the above short story I had several things in mind one of which may be considered esoteric or symbolic – let the reader decide.

Now I have a most important question for you: Do you know Yeshua (Jesus) as your Savior and Lord? If not, will you please read the following.

Salvation comes when one believes with all his heart. He should call upon the name of Yeshua (Jesus), and turn from his sins in true repentance.  It is important to note that there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do to earn our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. Yeshua (Jesus) did it ALL on Calvary. The finished work is in Him and Him alone! 

While we are saved by grace through faith, we should never, never neglect water baptism. If baptism were not important our Lord would not have set the example.  After this, it’s imperative that one abides in Yeshua (Jesus) and follows Him all the days of his life. We live out our walk by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.

If I can be of any help please call, write, or email me.

Now may the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob bless you through His Son Yeshua.

In His Service,

Jack Hunter

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem